Happy Long Weekend from Pond!

Hello family and friends! We hope that you have had a beautiful long weekend whether you are travelling, in the city or at the cottage. We are officially half-way through our project in Pond Inlet! We cannot believe how fast it has flown by. Although we have lots to share, here are the top 10 things we have learned so far about our arctic home: 1)   It is pronounced “noon-ah-voot” not “Nun-Ah-Vut.” As our students constantly remind us by pointing at the map “there isn’t none of it… there’s lots of it!”2)   Eminem is the #1 artist in Pond and don’t try to tell anyone otherwise.3)   Sealift is the event of the year. If you live down South and don’t know what Sealift is… Google it!4)   Polar bears are a real thing. Have you ever been shown videos of wild polar bears on a student’s ipod touch? We have.5)   If you ever find yourself trying to sleep during 24 hours of sunlight we highly recommend one product for your windows… Tinfoil!6)   Pond Inlet bannock is without a doubt one of the most delicious delicacies on earth7)   If you want to take your beautiful Inuit sled dog for a peaceful stroll, don’t be fooled. It will pull you…. Hard. It is called a sled dog for a reason.8)   Children in Pond will be outside playing and laughing no matter the weather. Favourite activities include puddle jumping, hopscotch and of course snow balls!9)   Pond Inlet is the most beautiful place in the world… It literally takes our breath away every time we step outside!10)                  Although we don’t always understand what our students are saying in Inuktitut, hearing this beautiful language everyday is something that we already know we will miss greatly! It has been another busy week in Pond Inlet. We finished up our Substance Abuse unit with the junior high students. The students asked some great questions and were into all of our matching games. Then we all practiced the recovery position (a bit of first aid!). Finally, we tested their knowledge by playing the biggest game of Jeopardy that Nasivvik had ever seen!  We also worked on our Mental Health unit this week with the grade 9 students. Topics included dealing with stress, anger and grief. As always we were impressed by the questions and maturity from this group of students. An exciting new addition to the QHO curriculum in Pond this year was Sleep Health. Healthy sleep is a challenge for teenagers everywhere… And the 24 hours of sunlight / darkness definitely makes this a greater challenge for students in Pond. Our high school students helped for us to gather data by spending a morning surveying how much sleep students and staff had gotten the night before. We will keep you updated on our results and this new addition to the QHO curriculum! After school was spent doing the usual bracelet making and sports in the gym with one new exciting addition… ultimate frisbee! The students picked the game up easily, being such natural athletes and all. HAPPY MAY 24 : The weekend crept up on us and before we knew it, we had a long weekend ahead of us. The Saturday was spent going to the flea market and soaking up some sun. This week had been quite the blizzard! For dinner on Saturday night we prepared a good ol’ Ontario style cottage dinner…mmm. Sunday we mainly focused on lesson planning and baking. Then on the holiday we celebrated with a dinner at Shelly’s house with some other community members. Overall, a productive and fantastic weekend! We will write again after our fourth week of teaching. We can’t wait to see what it has in store for us! Love from Kelsey, Erin and our Inuit sled dog (Bylot)